In order to truly follow Jesus, Christians must pay attention to what Jesus really did. We should be seeing, calling out, and addressing injustices and hypocrisy.

2. He knows what’s in the Bible.

And it is not a rule book for all time.

Maher understands the grave dangers of biblical literalism. He seems to understand more about the complex manner in which the Bible was actually developed and codified than the average Christian, and points out when scripture is cherry-picked out of context to oppress the marginalized or uphold dehumanizing world views. He asks questions about things that do not make sense, rather than buying theological excuses. He raises red flags over scripture that is misused, instead of using the Bible as a weapon to subdue people. Jesus reportedly spent a lot of time saying, “You have heard it said [something icky]…but I say [something humane]…” Jesus did not write the New Testament, which is full of contradicting reports, narratives and ideas; Christians would do well to wonder what Jesus would think of how other people interpreted his story. Bill Maher wonders that too.

Christians can learn to be as wise and empathetic as Jesus if we learn the history of the compilation of the Bible, understand the thought-provoking purpose of the mythos that fills its pages, and use it gently and accordingly.

From Pinterest / Alan Johnson

3. He challenges sexist politics.

Subversive statements protest the treatment of women in a culturally viable way.

Maher clearly sees the sexist patriarchy that still informs Christian America today. While many men completely misunderstand and therefore hate feminism, and some young women say they do not need feminism, Maher seems to know we still do, perhaps more than ever.

Jesus lashed out at a society that diminished women and other marginalized people. He spoke to women with respect, and included women as major pillars of his movement. Many stories about how he interacted with and uplifted women were left out of the canonized Bible and were banned in Church history. Jesus made a lot of subversive proclamations that his society did not understand, and the most pious rejected him. Christians must speak up, no matter how much flak we get, for the personal autonomy, dignity and equality of women and girls.

Do I agree with everything Bill Maher says? No. I don’t agree with his general assessment of Islam, or the idea that there is nothing to salvage of the Christian faith. But Bill Maher challenges the status quo, like Jesus called us to do, and he talks about the things that Christians should be paying attention to. He consistently questions religion and in so doing presents what I call the “real gospel”: a call for freedom, equality, dignity and wholeness for all people.